Industrial design considerations must consider a wide range of manufacturing and assembly concerns. Not the least of which involves the final assembly of individual components into a final product assembly. Complex designs may, in turn, result in complex assembly procedures. Complex procedures may lead to undesirably high cost increases due to labor costs. Complex assembly procedures may also decrease the precision of part assembly with a resultant decrease in fit-and-finish.
Thus, the nature of industrial design is often that it favors simplicity over complex assemblies. Such is the case in aircraft interiors. Aircraft interiors must withstand considerable use and abuse from consumers throughout the lifespan of the aircraft. Active functioning items must remain functioning in a safe and reliable fashion and must be easily removed and replaced when such functioning is impaired. All this should be accomplished with a requisite minimum of time and effort to fully realize cost savings.
In particular, one region of an aircraft interior known to pose challenges to such desired efficiencies are the overhead storage bins. This bins are heavily used and often abused during flights. Often passengers considerably overload them. This abuse in combination with their position within the aircraft often leads to complex fastener assemblies requiring tools to facilitate installation or removal. An installation assembly with reduced complexity and one that alleviated the need for tooling would simplify assembly, reduce assembly costs, allow for simplified replacement of damaged storage bins, and would reduce assembly timelines.
It would therefore be highly desirable to have a pivot mechanism that allowed for the quick installation of aircraft storage bins. It would also be highly desirable for such a pivot mechanism to allow for simplified bin removal for repair or replacement.